Written Answers Wednesday 26 August 2009

Scottish Executive

Alcohol

Bill Aitken (Glasgow) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many offences of selling alcohol to under-18s have been detected in the last six months, broken down by police force; how many have resulted in a (a) prosecution and (b) conviction of licensees operating (i) on-sales and (ii) off-sales premises, and how many prosecutions for these offences are still pending.

Frank Mulholland: The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) case management system shows that in the first six months of 2009, 238 charges were reported by the police under the provisions of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 1976 concerning the sale of alcohol to under-18s. The available data does not distinguish between on-sales and off-sales premises and cannot distinguish between accused who are licensees and those who are not.

  The following tables show (a) the initial prosecution decisions taken for these charges and (b) for those charges prosecuted, the current position of the court proceedings as at 11 August 2009.

  (a) Charges Reported: Licensing (Scotland) Act 1976

  

Police Force Area
Number of Charges Reported
No Action
Direct Measure Issued
No Decision Taken(at 11th August)
Court Proceedings


Central Scotland
10
4
2
0
4


Dumfries and Galloway
2
1
0
0
1


Fife
30
4
3
0
23


Grampian
47
13
19
3
12


Lothian and Borders
61
10
22
4
25


Northern
6
3
2
0
1


Strathclyde
79
22
24
9
24


Tayside
3
1
0
0
2


Grand Total
238
58
72
16
92



  (b) Charges Prosecuted: Licensing (Scotland) Act 1976

  

Police Force Area
Convicted
Not Convicted
No Further Action
Proceedings still ongoing (at 11th August)
Grand Total


Central Scotland
2
1
0
1
4


Dumfries and Galloway
0
0
0
1
1


Fife
7
1
5
10
23


Grampian
0
0
0
12
12


Lothian and Borders
6
3
0
16
25


Northern
1
0
0
0
1


Strathclyde
3
1
2
18
24


Tayside
0
0
0
2
2


Grand Total
19
6
7
60
92



  Notes:

  1. Charges where "no action" or "no further action" have been marked includes those cases for which there was found to be insufficient evidence to proceed.

  2. These tables include offences reported against licensees, their employees and their agents.

  3. The information for this question has been extracted from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’s Case Management Database. The database is a live, operational database used to manage the processing of reports submitted to procurators fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies. If a procurator fiscal amends a charge submitted by a reporting agency the database will record details only of the amended charge.

  4. The database is charge-based. The figures quoted therefore relate to the number of charges rather than the number of individuals charged or the number of incidents that gave rise to such charges.

  5. The information in these tables is correct as at 11th August 2009.

Digital Technology

Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive (a) which broadband relay sites in the Western Isles have lost service within the last 24 months; (b) how many times each of these has lost the service, and (c) how quickly the service was restored on each occasion.

Jim Mather: This information is not held by either the Scottish Government or Highlands and Islands Enterprise, which deals with all operational matters relating to the connected communities project.

Health

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has corresponded with people with medical conditions affected by the use of compact fluorescent or low-energy light bulbs in relation to the phasing out of incandescent light bulbs.

Shona Robison: Consumer safety and product safety are reserved matters led by UK Government departments. However, the Scottish Government has responded to three letters on this issue over the last 15 months.

Healthcare Associated Infections

Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow Maryhill) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it has issued to NHS boards as to the circumstances in which Clostridium difficile should be recorded as the cause of death of a patient.

Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow Maryhill) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it has issued to NHS boards as to the circumstances in which Clostridium difficile should be recorded as the contributory factor in the death of a patient.

Nicola Sturgeon: All NHS boards were asked to review their local guidance for death certification following the Clostridium difficile outbreak at the Vale of Leven Hospital.

  The Scottish Government has also developed national guidance on the completion of death certificates with the support of the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) and the Crown Office Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS). This has been the subject of consultation with NHS board medical directors and directors of public health.

  We expect the final guidance to be issued by end September 2009.

Healthcare Associated Infections

Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow Maryhill) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many death certificates issued for patients dying in hospitals in the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde area in 2008-09 have subsequently been amended to show Clostridium difficile as the cause of death.

Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow Maryhill) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many death certificates issued for patients dying in hospitals in the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde area in 2008-09 have subsequently been amended to show Clostridium difficile as a contributory factor in the cause of death.

Nicola Sturgeon: The General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) has confirmed that one death certificate was amended during the reporting period 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009 to show Clostridium difficile as cause of death. No changes were recorded to show Clostridium difficile as a contributory cause of death.

  Any changes to death certificates can be made up to six months in the calendar year following their registration. In the case of deaths which were registered in the last nine months of 2008, the answer provided takes account of any changes to death certificates which were made before GROS "froze" its statistical database for 2008 around the end of June 2009; in the case of deaths registered in the first three months of 2009, it also takes account of any changes which had been made by early August 2009.

  GROS has no information about any changes which were made to a medical certificate of the cause of death prior to the original registration of the death.